WineXpert Aging

[rseibel]

I'm in the process of making a red kit from WE. Is there any harm in aging the wine in the carboy while there is quite a bit of sediment at the bottom of it?

 

[Dugger]

I guess that depends on how long you're planning to leave it. I assume you are talking about leaving it as is after stabilization and that means quite a bit of sediment. If you are talking a month, maybe two, you should be okay; any longer and the dead yeast may impart some bad flavours. There is a process called sur lie ( on the lees) and that is basically what you are proposing, but I don't know how long sur lie aging can take place. Anyone else have some experience with this?
It seems prudent to rack it off the lees and then you won't have to worry about it.

 

[Julie]

You need to take it off of the lees, that will spoil your wine.

 

[winemaker_3352]

You need to take it off of the lees, that will spoil your wine.

I agree with Julie - I would rack to a clean vessel for aging.

 

[wineh]

rack it

I also agree. In addition, if you rack it now and bulk age it, there will be a little bit more sediment after a month or so. When you go to bottle, rack it off that little bit of sediment, and don't bother filtering, as it will be brilliantly clear already.

 

[Dugger]

While I agree with others that you need to take the wine off the lees, there is a question of time. Kit wine lees consist mostly of yeast cells and it takes some time for these dead cells to break down and do bad things. I have had wine sitting on lees for 2-3 months and suffered no ill effects. So I believe that you would be okay for this type of time frame, if, for some reason you can't rack it. Otherwise, rack it off the lees and you won't have to worry about it.

 

[Javila]

Kinda on this same note. Yesterday I was in the wine cellar (crawl space) 56degrees year round. I did a wine WE kit cab/merlot, after following instructions to the letter I bottled 3 gallons and left the other 3 gallons bulk aging. While checking on these bottles I noticed "floaties" in the bottles!? Aroma, color and taste are good for being in the bottles for 3 months. They were not there before. They look like sediment / residue you would get after u opened up a bottle thats been aged for awhile. Wine was not filtered, just did what instructions said and even left it longer b4 bottling. Just dont want to have 2 explain 1-2 years from now bout the stuff n the wine while on the back deck during summer weekend. What r my options?

 

[robie]

Kinda on this same note. Yesterday I was in the wine cellar (crawl space) 56degrees year round. I did a wine WE kit cab/merlot, after following instructions to the letter I bottled 3 gallons and left the other 3 gallons bulk aging. While checking on these bottles I noticed "floaties" in the bottles!? Aroma, color and taste are good for being in the bottles for 3 months. They were not there before. They look like sediment / residue you would get after u opened up a bottle thats been aged for awhile. Wine was not filtered, just did what instructions said and even left it longer b4 bottling. Just dont want to have 2 explain 1-2 years from now bout the stuff n the wine while on the back deck during summer weekend. What r my options?

It is very hard to answer your question without seeing the wine up very close. I would take it to the store where you bought the kit. They should be able to help.

Maybe the sorbate did not get mixed in properly. Tiny chunks of cork maybe??? Maybe you did not get rid of all the sediment the last time you racked, even though I don't know why it would float. It is good you are not just ignoring this issue. You don't want to ingest mold or whatever it might be.

 

[Javila]

Well , went ahead and bought a wine filter and filtered the 11 bottles I had. Filtering did the job and just for insurance put back in 1 gal carboys for now to age some more and to confirm the floaties dont re-appear.....so far it seems filtering did the trick. Cab/merlot tastes good but young with nice aroma.